This exam/assignment consists of three parts. You will have to answer all three.
Length of texts:
Part I Small essay min. 1000 words
Part II Review/critique 500-560 words
Part III Small essay min. 1000 words
Answer in either English or in one of the three Scandinavian languages.
Part I
From Olaf’s lectures and Richard Schechner’s book Performance Studies. An Introduction
Choose one of the videos (excerpts) below from YouTube and discuss the featured performance(s) in terms of staging/enactment, underpinned by concepts as ritual, play and performativity. Examine particularly the interplay between event and context, and how the context possibly influences the performance – with regard to general behavior as well as to interpretation/improvisation/set-up/presentation/ artistic choices. Then also say something about the impact of the staging on our reception.
A
Pianist Dame Myra Hess performs Beethoven’s sonata op. 57 (“Appassionata”) in 1945 (the event, and the series of which it was a part, is also described at http://www.pianostreet.com/blog/piano-news/piano-to-combat-evil-372/)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNlyxn2Y4_E
B
Leonard Bernstein conducting Beethoven’s Ninth on the occasion of the breakdown of the wall between East- and West-Berlin in 1989. NB: Schiller’s Ode to Joy is re-baptised and actually rewritten… etc., – performed in the restored/rebuilt (…) Schauspielhaus in Berlin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsVxEZNIJpI
C
The Alchemist: Documentary on Glenn Gould, part 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmiagqoXaQY
D
Jimi Hendrix’ iconic rendition of Star Sprangled Banner at Woodstock 1969.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ALNd3kIH0
Part II
From Tor’s lectures.
Choose one of these alternatives (A or B):
A
Describe and discuss a concert production in which you have participated as performer, or one you have been experiencing as audience. Include the following dramaturgical aspects:
– Elements of challenge
– Elements of identification
– Also apply as criterions use and variation of musical parameters (tempo, dynamics, time signatures, keys, orchestration, improvisation, interpretation etc.)
– Time
– Sound
B
Describe and discuss a concert production in which you have taken part from the following relational factors:
– Purpose/goal of the concert
– Content of concert
– The listening presuppositions/prerequisites of audience and musicians (familiarity of codes)
– Possibly different cultural presuppositions between musicians and audience
– Physical, economical and technical factors/preconditions (“rammefaktorer”)
– Procedures of evaluation
Part III
From Nils Henrik’s lectures:
TASK:
A new shopping center opens in town. You have been asked to stage a musical performance some time during the opening week. It could be any kind of performance. Describe the idea and the event, answering these points:
The situation:
How are the musician(s) placed in the space?
(In relation to the building, to the public)
At what time does the performance happen?
How does it relate to the activities in the shopping center?
The music:
What kind of music is played. Style, instrumentation, composition, duration?
Explain your choice.
The performer’s role:
How does the performer(s) behave. (like a concert musician, or theatrically, etc).
What about costume, make-up?
Explain your choice.
Technical:
What technical equipment is involved and how (sound, light, computer, instrument, stage elements etc)?
Organization of the music :
How is it rehearsed, conducted, synchronized etc (if it is not solo)?
Communication :
How is the event announced for the public in beforehand (are they invited to a concert, are they just surprised while passing by etc)?
How do you communicate during the performance?
What is the expected participation from the public? (listening, responding, interacting ?)
Documentation :
What would be the best documentation of the event ?
